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In the past decade China has not only become a magnet for overseas university students, it has also seen the launch of a growing number of management and finance programmes in the English language.

So much so that in 2012 China was the third most popular destination for globally mobile students at higher education level, according to the Institute of International Education, the US-based, non-profit research and information body.

“China has become a global education hub,” says Peggy Blumenthal, senior counsellor to the president at IIE, adding that part of the draw has been the provision of business and management programmes in English.

“In the old days, first they had to learn Chinese,” she adds.

Attracting 8 per cent of the 4.3m world total of globally mobile students, China is snapping on the heels of the UK, which has 11 per cent of the total. The US is the most preferred destination with 19 per cent of the pie, according to the latest Project Atlas report on student mobility from the IIE.

In 2001, when the IIE first started compiling its data, China did not figure in its top eight country list.

Certainly, provision of business education in English in China appears to be accelerating. This month the Chinese University of Hong Kong will welcome the first students on its Shenzhen campus, just across the border from Hong Kong. The undergraduate students have been able to choose from programmes offered by the school of management and economics, as well as science, engineering and humanities programmes. All the students will be taught in English, and the university plans to add postgraduate management and finance programmes later. CUHK says the fledgling management school has attracted five international students in its first intake.

Duke follows early movers such as the University of Nottingham which has just celebrated the 10th anniversary of the launch of its campus in Ningbo, a city on China’s east coast. The school’s website boasts that its masters programmes attract participants from more than 20 countries.

Other schools have also dipped their toes in the water without making a commitment to establishing a full-scale campus.

But with all this increase in English language business education provision, there are some concerns about the quality and content of what is being taught and questions about its long-term impact.

“Foreign schools could risk diluting their brand value,” says Michael Pettis, professor of finance at Guanghua School of Management at Peking University. He says some prestigious schools are setting up shop in a manner not unlike how a French fashion label might open a boutique in a wealthy area of Beijing or Shanghai.

Prof Bastin, who has taught in China since the 1990s, says overseas business schools have a particular advantage. “In China, there’s a high value placed on education – especially on business education – but there’s a deep distrust of Chinese provision,” he says.

Ceibs in Shanghai, which is ranked 17th in the FT Global MBA 2014 ranking, attracts large numbers of international students. Established in 1994 as a joint venture between the Chinese government and the European Commission, the autonomous school is also able to pick from among the best Chinese applicants.

“China is becoming more and more part of the world economy and the need for ambitious individuals to communicate with the outside world is increasing,” says Hellmut Schütte, dean of Ceibs. He says China needs the international business education that it is now trying to encourage and that it benefits both overseas and local Chinese students to have that education provided in English.

“Foreign participants bring the urgently needed cross-cultural dimension into the classroom,” he says, adding that Chinese is not a language students can learn in a few months.

However, the rapid opening of China’s education system to foreign influence could bring its own dynamic, Prof Pettis points out. “The question is,” he says, “can you centralise political power while decentralising economic power?”

For Prof Bastin, the answer could be interesting. “You can’t have the sort of education system we have in the west without political change,” he says.

Overseas business schools are not only interested in the burgeoning market for English language management degrees in China, some are also responding to a nascent demand for executive programmes.

In May the Haas School of Business at University of California, Berkeley, launched an executive level programme to provide what it calls a “Silicon Valley perspective on business, innovation and leadership” tailored to senior Chinese leaders. This takes place at the China Executive Leadership Academy Pudong (Celap).

Richard Lyons, the dean of Haas, is due to teach the programme again this month and well-known professors such as Laura Tyson are also expected to participate.

“I’m trying to maximise the long-term reputation of Berkeley Haas. It’s ultimately about reputation,” says Prof Lyons, adding that Celap’s students are particularly influential. The May cohort of students, he says, included “a bunch of Chinese vice-ministers”.

Top of the curriculum list was sustainable urban development. Financial risk management and entrepreneurship were also popular.

Mike Bastin, visiting professor at China’s University of International Business and Economics, thinks more overseas schools should be gearing up to provide tailored programmes for Chinese companies and solutions to the nation’s new challenges. “China’s low-cost advantage has been eroded. Labour costs have gone up so you have to turn to creativity and innovation and you need to turn to business education to help that.”

Overseas institutions who do get it right will gain immeasurably in the long run, he says.